I have a spare moment to share my thoughts after renewing my car insurance, so I thought that I would see what you think too. In my annual attempt to stop myself from being mugged by the insurance robbers, as usual I explored the differences that changing my personal circumstances makes. I knew that a drop in mileage by 2,000 miles would bring the quotes down a little, but who would have thought that now having 1 child under 16 in the house rather than 2 would also bring the price down. I opted for NCD protection as usual, but didn't know that there's little benefit when a fault accident just drops 9+ years NCD to 4 years when the difference shown later on the site equates to a 72% discount for 4 years NCD or 80% for 9+ years. Also the aged old debate about legal protection. I'm not a big fan of this due to it's limitations, but I think quoting, "claims must have more than a 50% chance of the case being successful" is a bit unfair. Who decides if the claim might be more than 50% successful or not and if it was then I can't see why any solicitor wouldn't take it on anyway, making the reason for buying legal protection almost pointless. Anyway, the upshot for me is that I traded up this year and Tesco Insurance wanted £750 upon renewal. Half an hour of shopping around and updating my cover has got me renewed with LV at £373
If you shop around every year you will probably find you will end up with a different company each year, it's often cheaper for new customers, it's often worth the trouble of ringing your current company and telling them how cheap you can get it elsewhere. They will often discount to keep your business. As I work in the insurance industry I like to shop around to test the competition.
Yep. MCE is ALWAYS (for me) dearer with a renewal than with a fresh 'comparison site' quote! I've just found Motorcycle Direct cheap for a new quote. Don't know much about them but part of the Europa Group which is reasonably large. Will explore further.
Not necessary. The fact you mentioned going from 2 children suggested to me that you hadn't been carrying 2 children strapped together on the pillion seat!
I guess that's not a question on my bike insurance quotes then as I just answer them and move on I wondered if it was a dependancy thing, suggesting that more siblings meant that you're valued higher and the premium goes up as a result. A bit like how your profession can increase the premium if you're deemed to be worth more.
In respect of legal expenses insurance, many members might recall that in years gone by I have gone into some depth about why LEI was a waste of space. However since the rules changes about 4 years ago, LEI is actually now a good option for a number of reasons. Firstly, insurers can no longer insist that you use one of their tame corrupt panel firms, you are allowed to choose whatever firm you wish and if you do use a law firm of your choosing th4en the insurers are obliged to keep you on cover as far as covering your legal costs. Thats the first part. Secondly, under the new rules, in no win no fee cases, law firms are allowed to now deduct up to a maximum of 25% of your compensation as part of what is called the "Success Fee". Once upon a time law firms could claim up to 100% or double the legal fees depending on the degree of difficulty and risk the case posed but in order t try and reduce costs caused by the insurers and defendants legal representatives playing delay tactics, legal fees ofen ended up being higher than the level of compensation. Hence the reason why the success fee was restructured, and which is why it is important to speak to a law firm and negotiate before you commit if you are using a CFA. With legal expenses insurance there is no deduction period.................... Lastly, every case has to be risk assessed before it is taken on. Unlike criminl law and road traffic law which works on beynd all reasonable doubt, civil law works on the balanace of probability of 51% or better. The risk assessment has to be done because it affects funding, after the event insurance premiums, the liklihood of getting an early admittance of liability, value of the compensation levels and also whether the case falls into damage only (which many firms will not deal with) fast track (low value below £25,000) of Multi track which is catastrophic and uncapped as far as legal fees are concerned. It is possible to make a risk assessment just based on experience (I have done many hundrds over the years) but sometimes it can be an incorrect assessment in that it may be of a higher value than first envisaged or a lower value, but that is the issue for the law firm. It is the 51% or better that is important and sometimes even lower percentages will be taken on for further investigaton, but the client is usually told at the time whether or not tey have a good case or not. Hope that explains things a little better for you?
Thanks T.C. I did read your blog when when it came out and it made perfect sense and I'm aware that the rules have since changed, although I can't see how £35 extra for LEI helps on the basis that a claim under 50% won't be covered, but a claim over 50% could be taken on by another firm (other than for the low value claims which my car would alone almost exceed).
The cost of LEI varies from company to company. Many include it free of charge as part of their policy, it is pot luck. Don't forget I was referring to personal injury. 99% of firms won't touch damage only claims because unless the claim exceeds £5,000 legal costs cannot be claimed back. The rules are also changing in respect of personal injury claims later this year when injury claims under £5,000 value will fall into the same situation and claimants will be unable to claim back legal costs.
Got it. In that case I'll opt for LEI on the bike insurance in September, but not so important on the car I've just renewed as there's more chance of walking away from an accident.
yer got a renewal off mce of £600 which was dearer than my first policy with them when the bike was brand new and when I spoke to them they wasn't interested to drop the price , but I went on gocompare and they come out the cheapest £247 with everything inc legal assistance , break down , etc. , but the only thing is they don't class the bike being in the house as a locked garage ?
Agree, I have that exact problem. They've actually revised their Terms and Conditions to preclude a 'house/home' from the definitions of locked garage whereas some insurers are quite happy to recognise a home as a locked 'building'. Mincing words, I know, but from my perspective, most homes are more secure than a garage, have reasonably constant occupation, and in many cases have security systems linked to their home. Very poor showing by many of these insurers to not look at each policy on a case-by-case assessment.
to right , so looking at there options of where the bike is kept , there is no option for the bike being in the house as its not a garage in there words , so which option do you check , kept on the street , then the price goes through the roof . so the last few months the bikes not been insured and sorned .
Check out Bemoto. You have to phone them from a quote but they are underwritten by AXA and they are a bikers insurance run by bikers for bikers. I'd never use MCE again. When I killed my Gixer 1000 they stipulated the bike had to go to their claims monkeys or I had to fork out a further excess, they wanted a £100 excess for my £350 helmet and leathers cover and insisted I had receipts for all kit! They then tried to claim I had told them the bike had an alarm fitted so they tried to get out of the claim (it was an RTC and an alarm would have made no difference). Their quotes are always the cheapest but the service is appalling. Their excess is always huge too. They are absolutely shit.
I added the Triumph 955i to my 675 policy for free and when I asked about the mileage cap they said call them when it got near and they'd change the cap and if the underwriter charged extra they would not pass it on! Don't come much better than that. I also had the 98 R1 with the 675 for free before the T955i.
